This invention may be described as an improved child restraint device which is fastened to or integrated into the seat of a motor vehicle and provides for 360 degree spherical impact protection, significantly reducing the risk of injury to a child in the event of a collision.
Child restraint devices are used to secure children in motor vehicles such as automobiles, trucks and buses to protect them from injury in the event of an accident. Every 14 seconds someone in America is injured in a traffic crash, and every 12 minutes someone is killed. Each year, traffic crashes in the United States claim about 41,000 lives and cost Americans $150 billion in economic costs. In 1998, an average of 7 children were killed and 866 children were injured every day in motor vehicle crashes.
Child seats used in motor vehicles to protect infants (up to age 1) are recommended to be placed upon a vehicle seat in a rearward facing direction and secured in place with the existing vehicle seat belt. Seats for toddlers (1 year or older) are recommended to be placed upon a vehicle seat in a forward facing direction and secured with the existing vehicle seatbelt. Research has found that child safety seats, when used properly, reduce the risk of injury by 71% for infants, less than age 1, and by 54% for toddlers, between 1 and 4 years of age. These child restraint seats are designed to protect an infant from a frontal collision by placing the infant in a rear facing position within the vehicle. Prior art child restraint seats are static by design and are installed so that the back of the seat faces forward in the vehicle, positioning the child in a rear facing direction. This design is based off of crash data which shows that 60% of all motor vehicle collisions are frontal. Since there is a higher probability of a frontal collision, child safety seats are designed to orient the child in a position that causes the least amount of neck and spinal injuries during frontal impacts. The shortcomings of this design is that 40% of all impacts occur from areas other than the front. This crash test data sheds light as to why the present child safety seats still leave a 40% chance of injury for infants less than 1 year of age. Impacts can occur from 360 degrees around a vehicle, broken down into 60% frontal, 20% side, and 20% rear. The infant restraint must then rely on harnesses to restrain the infant, exposing the child""s body to powerful impact forces, which cause injuries that are commonly associated with seat belts, such as forward whip lash, and spinal injuries. This situation is only exacerbated for toddlers who typically sit in child safety seats designed to position the child in a forward facing, upright position. These safety seats rely on the restraint harness to protect toddlers from injury. This explains why the use of safety seats for toddlers only reduces the risk of injury by 54%. Crash trauma data also indicates that harnesses can cause head injuries and internal organ damage during impact. The prior art devices do not provide for an infant restraint that adequately protects a child from impact forces caused by a side, rear or other types of collisions. Furthermore, the prior art devices rely upon following the manufacturer""s directions for the proper positioning of the seat dependent upon the child""s age. Prior art devices, to be effective must be positioned so that the device is placed squarely between the infant and the source of the impact. Since the prior art devices are positioned squarely between the infant and the impact force for frontal collisions only, they are ineffective in preventing injury in other collisions.
This invention may be described as a kinetic child restraint device that is designed to automatically position a child so that during a collision or sudden change in direction, forces of impact are distributed over a large portion of their body, while at the same time cradling their fragile neck and back. It does so by squarely positioning the capsule between the child and the impact force. The device is also designed to disperse the impact energy by transforming it into rotational energy. The need for the ability to shift the seating position of the child restraint device are threefold. First, the infants undeveloped physical structure requires a generally horizontal seating position, placing the back and neck of the infant in a horizontal orientation. Second, the forces encountered by passengers in a vehicle during a collision can come from any direction (360 degrees), but is generally in a horizontal plane. Lastly, the ideal position of a child during an impact is to orient the neck and back of the child perpendicular to the vector force of the impact. Since the impact force can come from any direction during a collision, the seating position of the restraint device needs to be automatically repositioned during impact to place the neck and back of the infant perpendicular to the impact force.
The kinetic child restraint device of the present invention achieves the automatic alignment of the child in this optimized position, through a system of three articulated elements, a base, an arm and a capsule. The base has a vertical component and a horizontal component and is adapted to be secured to a vehicle seat by using existing lap belts and tether attachments. The arm or arms are pivotally connected to the base element and can rotate 360 degrees. The capsule, which supports the infant, is pivotally connected to the end of the arm or arms allowing the capsule to pivot around two axes of rotation. With the child positioned in the capsule semi-reclined, facing rearward, the balance is eccentric, causing the seat to seek equilibrium, at rest or in motion. The kinetic child restraint device will automatically position the infant in the optimum posture in a zone of reference being 360 degrees spherical. Any impact vector will cause the capsule to react through inertia, by rotating, to orient the back of the child to and at a perpendicular reference. The infant""s body mass is restrained in the seat by the effects of centrifugal force.